Czwartek 17 Gru 2009, 3:57

Top 10 Archers of Loaf songs

Currently my favorite band. Got into them in November of 08 with Icky Mettle and then got Vee Vee for Christmas. I kind of feel like I'm falling away and it's time for me to move on to a new obsession. But like my previous favorite band, Built To Spill, I will always come back to them.

10. Harnessed in Slums

They let me down for the second time straight.

Their most inspirational song that really hit me when I first heard it. I was a useless guy in an off the wall punk band, but I still felt the pain of the audience not getting us. I guess you could say I identified with the thugs, scum, punks, and freaks that Eric screams about wanting to be free.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25ymumzyWMU

9. White Trash Heroes

And underneath the arcade, details collide

One of the most well known Loaf songs is also one of their best. WTH is probably my least favorite album, but I think it's their 2nd best album to listen through all the way. Also, with the track listing of this album backwards, I could see it as a soundtrack to a southern post-apocalyptic/industrial drama. The last song, White Trash Heroes, as the beginning of the end of human civilization.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUa9S6qJS5A

8. Chumming the Ocean

The mask is on, the diver is down, now.

This is surely their saddest song, even though it's about a diver being eaten by a shark. The only Archers song I would play in front of my mother.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCmsd93y6ac

7. Don't Believe the Good News

And if I see you at the show, Then I'll see you and you'll know. Exactly where we stand in the back row. Dreaming of the front row.

Probably made it to the b-sides for being too god damn gloomy. The sound this one makes is really dark and really fits Eric's eerie lyrics. It reminds me of the summer thunderstorm days we have in Eastern Washington.

6. Web in Front

And there's a chance that things'll get weird.

It hurts me not to post the music video for this one, but this is the origin of my love. One of my best music sharing colleagues featured the song in a humorous video of his. Like White Trash Heroes, this is the song that everybody knows the Loaf for. But I have to say that I had a hard time picking between this and Might.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDhK0zRET-g

5. Lowest Part is Free!

Got nothing to say, and you say it anyway.

I really don't have too much to say besides this track kicks my dick. It was the song I heard after Web in Front that made me dive right in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB6Xh1fZ1wY

4. Slow Worm

And everybody's whistling because everybody's blind.

One of the more unsettling, bitter Loaf songs where Eric gives off being pissed off with his words but remains toneless. The meaning is hard for me to tap, but I feel like he's making a statement about popular music over the scratchy guitar and chilling bass. Haste Paste as well hints at a disliking for the mass consumption of bad music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmj0iRD1dhM

3. Form and File

The morale here is pretty fucking low, alright?

You have to love the answering machine message parts of this song. Such pretty noises these guys made on All the Nation's Airports. The back story of it being a drunken message left on their manager's answering machine makes the song amusing when it's supposed to be sad and angry. Feels so good to be on the in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0y7fAYFHXg

2. All Hail the Black Market

Line em up single file and gouge out all their eyes

You guys are dicks, because nobody ever talks about this one. This one reminds me of that old footage of those people being lined up and shot in the chest. And you have to love that guitar solo at 2:43, man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPub-FFtfkA

1. Greatest of All Time

Drinking and laughing and lighting up. Reminiscing just how bad he sucked

Watch the video and see for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKkrmpCjM7U

Honorable Mentions

Underachievers March and Fight Song
Probably their strangest release, but god damn those alto sax (?) notes get stuck in your head and you're whistling it for weeks. Totally pissed my pants when I found a live version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RJauLlmEPU

Every Song They've Ever Done
One of the few bands that I've enjoyed every song by. Making this list even more difficult, my top 5 would probably change every week and it feels like choosing my favorite child.